The Existential Metaphysics of the Person. Part 1: The Classical Concept of the Person and the Metaphysical Theory of Esse

Abstract

The question of the status of the person still turns out to be one of the most important problems of the contemporary world. Both the theoretical question of “what is the human being?,” of key importance to philosophical anthropology, as well as important for humanity of all times, the existential version of that question “who am I?,” have accompanied man or woman since the dawn of their intellectual reflection on the nature of the world and the meaning of their own life. They have always been so, and nowadays they are probably more important to humankind than ever due to the important socio-cultural, ideological, legal, etc., aspects, with their more or less clear consequences in the practical life of individuals and societies. This paper is a brief presentation of a research project aimed at introducing the idea of the existential metaphysics of the person. Firstly, the roots of this concept will be discussed in the light of the classical concept of the person and, in particular, of the philosophical theories of St. Thomas Aquinas, as well as a contemporary version of the metaphysics of the person devised within the Lublin Philosophical School in Po-